Castle Walls
by blinded-by-light-x
Summary: A stoic Eve Torres returns to a chilly reception from her co-workers in the WWE. She claims that she's not here to make friends, only to perform. But when a certain Legend Killer begins to notice the dark silence that fell over the once bubbly diva, he does whatever he can to make her happy again. Can he do it? Or will Eve continue to push everyone away? [Rated T, for now]
1. Return

**A/N: **For the past few days I found myself watching YouTube videos of Eve Torres when she made her first heel turn in her WWE career. Since then, I've became fascinated with the idea of taking Eve's heel persona character, applying it to real life, and not to mention, create a seemingly dark, and stoic Eve Torres. This is just the beginning of what I kind of had in mind, an intro, and as the story progresses I will continue forth with going in depth in writing Eve's character _**like**_** _this._ **

Some feedback for this will be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, enjoy reading. :)

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><p><strong><span>Castle Walls<span>**

It's been two, almost three years since Eve Torres took a step into the hallways of the WWE, and to say that she was ecstatic to be back in the wrestling industry was an understatement. It hadn't been long, but when she quit the WWE she left on bad terms. She remembered what she had done against certain superstars and divas, and then screaming, and quitting the WWE out of losing the Divas title.

If anything, the former Divas Champion felt as if she _had _to return to the WWE ring, for it was outside of the ring while she'd been gone where everything for her started to change. She didn't like talking about it, in fact, she didn't _want _to talk about it - but what's done is done, and now the brunette beauty was back to kick some ass.

She knew she had been gone for a couple years, but coming back Eve expected to at least be greeted with some sort of welcome, but after an hour or so walking in the hallway, receiving cold stares, and weak mumbles, she couldn't help but smile, only just a little, at herself.

She could see that the majority of the cold reception she received came from the current WWE divas, but Eve likened the cold shoulder she received to intimidation for her unexpected return back to the WWE.

_They should be intimidated. Most, if not, then some of these divas are rookies compared to me. Who needs them when there's real veterans like me who belong in the WWE? _

"Welcome back, Eve." A sarcastic remark slipped from the mouth of the current Divas Champion, AJ Lee, who emerged from the shadows, to approach the returning diva.

A ghost of a smile appeared on the young woman's face as she completely ignored the cocky smirk radiating from the Divas champion. "It's good to be back – but I don't need your sarcasm." Eve said darkly.

"Very much so," AJ commented. "But – good luck on winning this back." She gave her divas title a good pat, and Eve narrowed her eyes at the petite champion.

"Hmm... I see you are still the same clingy, psychotic, witch that you are. I guess some things never change, but enjoy hanging onto that title, don't _lose _it – I mean you wouldn't want to have another one of those pitiful tantrums when you do."

She could tell that her words had some weight to them, because AJ looked as if she was holding back the urge to smack her in the face. Seeing this, gave Eve a sense of superiority toward the champion.

"Unless you're going back to your ways of using people, then I'll see you around in the ring..." And finally, with that, the Divas champion skipped off down the hallway, leaving the returning diva to herself.

_Using people... _

And suddenly she found herself pulled back into her dark world again...

Eve Torres, the damsel in distress...

Eve Torres, the weak woman terrorized by the demon Kane...

and finally to top it all off...

Eve Torres, the "hoeski" of the WWE.

Then the emotional torture that came after that didn't make everything much easier on Eve back then... but why was she talking about that? Today is a new day.

She told herself when she decided to return to the WWE that she would forget about the past, look to the future, perform for the crowd and become Divas champion.

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><p>Randy was pissed off.<p>

Seth Rollins. He never wanted to cause so much harm on one man, but _Seth Rollins _was just asking for it, he knew. He can curb stomp anyone in the WWE locker room, anyone – but he does it to him instead?! His own partner.

Come to think of it, seeing as how he was being overshadowed by Seth Rollins while in the Authority, Randy figured it was just about time to break it off with them, and return to singles competition.

He was heading to the trainer's room to get an ice pack for his head when he caught sight of Eve Torres.

_Eve Torres? She's... back? _

He was surprised to see Eve back inside the WWE hallways. There was talk of someone returning to the WWE, but he didn't expect it to be her.

He had to walk by the Divas locker room to get to the trainer's room, and as he started to do so, he caught Eve's figure outside the locker room.

She was crouching on the ground, her eyes and head bowing toward the floor as if she was in prayer, and she was not too far from the Divas locker room in the middle of the hallway. He stopped himself from moving any further. He figured that whatever she was doing required some solitude, and that it'd be rude to interrupt the quiet surroundings.

Instead, he looked on at the intriguing sight ahead of him.

She was dressed in her usual ring gear, and the beautiful brown hair that was once on her was cut to medium length. He watched Eve from behind, with her back toward him, but he could easily see that the short hair made her all the more cunning, and exotic.

As he watched her, the environment around him began to change. He could sense a certain loneliness coming from the diva up ahead of him, and a strange aura of darkness too.

Was this feeling coming from her? Or was he just imagining things? Or maybe it was just him... he was coming right off the anger of being curb stomped onto the ground by Seth Rollins, so maybe it was him – but watching the diva made him question her emotional state of being.

She seemed lonely... is she alright?

He snapped out of his trance when the trainer he was assigned to stumbled upon him. He provided Randy with an ice pack, and helped him to the trainer's room for further examination.

He couldn't help but turn to watch the lone figure of Eve Torres disappear from his line of vision. He couldn't really understand why he was so concerned for her, she just seemed so different from when she first came into the WWE, and seemed even more... darker than she was when she quit the WWE.

He couldn't pin-point what it was about her that made her seem so eerie, but for some reason, he wanted to find out what it was.

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><p><strong>AN: **Like I said, an intro. It's nothing much, and I'll let you decide whether I should continue this or not. Review in the meantime.


	2. Encounter

She didn't know how long she'd been staring at the floor during her rest period, so lost and in deep thought, but no sooner than later, Eve knew that she had to get ready for her match soon. The brunette stood up on her two feet, and took a deep breath.

Then she went down again. She continued this pattern, with her legs spread equally apart and her feet planted firmly onto the ground, performing a successful round of squats. The returning diva went at a decent, slow pace. She breathed in her nose at the right moment, and breathed out at the right, precise moments. She did whatever it took to get her body working, anything to prepare herself for the upcoming bout.

It's been a long time since she last stepped into the WWE ring, and she wasn't planning on showing any signs of ring rust. Like Hell she was going to show everyone how weak she'd grown since leaving the squared circle.

While she was doing this, she counted along the number of squats in her head.

1... 2... 3... 4.

1... 2... 3... 4.

She continued this exercise until she felt a slight burn in her thigh muscles, and the diva almost literally had to pull herself away from doing another set of squats.

_What's the matter with you? _Eve had done this on so many occasions. She often tried to push herself too hard when it came to exercise, thinking she could do a lot more above the mark she set for herself, and in those occasions, she always ended up straining her muscles. _Are you trying to hurt yourself? Why?!_

She bit her lip, and shook her head. _Don't think. Don't think – Don't think. You didn't come here to think, you came here to get lost in this line of work... so forget about everything... don't think... don't think... _

"Well hello there," A slick voice snapped Eve out of her inner thoughts, and she looked up to see a smirking Seth Rollins standing before her.

"Eve Torres, isn't it? I believe we haven't been formerly introduced to each other." He grinned a cheeky smile, and he held out his gloved sweaty hand. "Seth Rollins. I've heard about you, and your return to the WWE, and I thought that I should introduce myself."

Eve scowled at the man in front of her. "Yeah? Well, I don't want your acquittance, or anyone's for that manner, so you can go '_introduce' _yourself to someone who gives a damn." She pushed his hand away from her, and Seth, though surprised at first, suddenly became amused.

"Someone's a little snappy." Seth clicked his tongue. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? For someone who's just returned to the ring, you don't look much happy to be back."

"Why do you care so much?"

"I don't. I don't know you that well to care as much, but I've just heard a few things from a few people. When you came, you looked angry, pissed off, and some new divas, take Eva Marie for instance, said that you looked a little stuck up. You looked as if you were better than her, or better than anyone else."

"It's because _I am._" Eve growled. "and I can say the same about you. I've heard about _you _too, turning on your Shield brethren. Some_ 'brother' _you are, aren't you? With that being known, it doesn't necessarily put you on the nice guy list, let alone, a list that would list you number 1, as someone I can trust, so fuck off."

"I'm happy you seem to know so much about me, Miss Torres. Really, I'm honored. But that wasn't _all _that I've heard. Some even said you looked the same as you did when you started to sleep around in the WWE." Seth grinned like a kid who had just pulled off a major prank.

Eve held Seth at a level stare, not amused, and surprisingly held back the urge to smack Seth across the face."Like _they _would _really _know." She replied sarcastically. Seth looked at her with narrowed eyes, blinking in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it! And me sleeping around in the WWE? That's not true, so again, fuck off Seth." Eve replied bitterly, flipping him off.

He held up his hands in defense. "Hey, I didn't mean to cross a line there, in my defense, I wasn't on the main roster when whatever is you went through happened."

"Well you _did, _and I _don't _care. It's clear that you'd take _their _word, over mine if I told you." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't even know what made you think that you can come over and talk to me as if you _know_ me." Eve snapped.

Seth chuckled. "Actually, if you want my honest opinion..." Eve was just about to walk off, as she was clearly not interested in hearing Seth's opinion, but before she got out of eat shot, Seth had already blurted out what he was going to say.

"I came over to talk to you because you interest me."

"Excuse me?" Eve, already did not like how much attention she was giving to this bastard here, and he was already giving off bad vibes by getting off on the wrong foot with her, but now he's - _interested _in her? She could not _wait _to hear this one.

"I like your attitude, I like how you're not like the other divas. That's why I came over to you." Seth gave her a flirtatious smile. "We could start over on the right page, if that will get you interested in me."

"If you think starting over, will get me to _'like' _you, then you're full of it, Rollins." Before she said anything else, her view was suddenly blocked off, as someone had stepped in front of her, to face Rollins.

"She's not interested, Rollins. Now leave, or I'll leave you lying in your pool of blood." He threatened darkly. As she stood in the back, Eve looked on, noticing the familiar tattoo carved into the back of his neck, and immediately, she already knew who it was that 'saved' her.

_Randy Orton. _

_Great. Fucking great. _

"Excuse me, Orton. The lady and I, we were just having a chat, have you no manners?" Seth looked at him with innocence as if he hadn't done anything wrong to upset the diva, and Eve was just about ready to pummel him to the ground if she could.

"Cut the crap, Seth. You've clearly done something, I'd be surprised if you didn't."

"Whatever, Randal. We'll just see how long you last in the WWE without getting your face stomped into the ground."

Eve rolled her eyes, and sighed. She was happy that the subject had changed from her, to whatever the hell is going on between him, and Orton. Another part of her, however, was a little annoyed. She could've handled Seth on her own, she didn't need help from Orton to do it.

She probably could've listed a ton of reasons why, but she wasn't planning on sticking around these guys for any longer. It wasn't her business anyway, and sticking around might even mean that Randy would turn around and talk to her too. She didn't. She didn't want to talk to anyone, she came here to do a job, _not _make friends.

Like an assassin hell bent on stealth, Eve disappeared down the other end of hallway, away from the ladies locker room, and away from the bickering wrestlers. Her departure, not being noticed by either of the two gentlemen who stood facing off with each other in the hallway.

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><p>When Eve was long gone, it took a few minutes for someone to finally take notice of the diva's departure. It was Seth. "Good going, Randal. It looks like our guest of honor has left us." Seth spat at him.<p>

Randy turned around, and he was met with the cold emptiness of a hallway, one which used to have Eve Torres standing in it, and directly behind him. He looked a little disappointed that she made an early exit while he was bickering, and arguing with Rollins, whom he was sure to be the reason that Eve left so quickly.

"Sure, this is my fault. You fucking sociopath, you must enjoy making people uncomfortable, don't you?"

He didn't wait for an answer. Randy spun around on his heel, and left Rollins where he stood, he looked less than pleased at the sudden turn of events, and put the blame square on Randy's shoulders.

Meanwhile, Randy headed, for what he think, was the direction Eve had went off to in a hurry. He couldn't get the image of Eve crouching in the hallway he was just standing in, looking, and feeling so alone. He couldn't erase the feeling, that strange aura of darkness for when he saw her. He wanted to talk to her as soon as he was done with Seth, but she had disappeared before he was given that chance.

He knew that she had a match coming up soon, for she was seen geared up in her wrestling gear, just earlier when he saw her. But it wasn't _next, _she had a while before she had to prep herself for it, he was sure.

He came at the end of the hallway, looked left, and then right.

She was no where to be found.

_Damn, where did she go?_

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><p><strong>A second chapter! Yay! Eve's certainly a mysterious one, isn't she?<br>There's reason(s) for that. **;)**  
>Meanwhile, review and tell me what you think!<br>**


	3. Maybe

If there was one place that Eve could go to _possibly _blow off a little steam before her match – it was the training room.

The _divas _training room.

She scoffed at the thought of walking into the room, and then be on the receiving end of cold stares from her '_fellow__' _divas, the same kind of stares that she very much received from a couple of superstars and a few divas when she walked into the building.

But she could care less. She knew her coming here would not please everyone, and even if she did expected a better kind of reception than what she had gotten, she knew one way or the other, if not all - then some of the divas would not be happy to see her.

She had gotten so far away from Seth and Randy that she was sure both men failed to notice that she walked off, leaving the two of them to bicker amongst themselves because it'd be pointless, for her, to sit and watch, and she got so far, that even if either of those men did notice that she was gone, she doubted any of them would find her.

Why find her? It's pointless... she didn't want anything to do with either of them.

With that, Eve walked with a bounce in her step down the hallway, and into the divas training room. On her way there, she expected to find at least someone there training, but to her surprise, there wasn't. She stood alone in the training room, and she was grateful.

_Thank God. Some solitude. _

She decided then and there – at this moment – she was going to pretend that this room was hers, and forget that she even crossed paths with the likes of AJ Lee, and Seth Rollins. Randy Orton making his presence known earlier wasn't much of an issue to her, only thing being is that his appearance in regards to 'saving her' from Seth, wasn't necessary.

However, she figured that she could be a little thankful, if it weren't for him she wouldn't be able to walk away when she did. If he didn't butt in, she felt like Seth would just follow her around like a lost dog, rather then go on about whatever business he has with The Authority. Orton interfering gave her that golden opportunity, and as she walked off, he managed to hold the bastard at bay.

But she could still handle herself – she knew that for sure.

The training room consisted of the usual training equipment. There was a treadmill at the back from where she stood in the doorway, strength exercise equipment that worked the chest and arms to it's right, a bike to test endurance, more strength training equipment for the legs, dumbbells that were placed neatly in a corner to the left of the treadmill.

Eve brought her eyes to the middle of the floor which were taped up, and marked for basic training such as jumping jacks, squats, push-ups (you know, basic training that you can perform on your own).

There's another spot on the floor, next to the basic training station, was probably reserved for yoga, or other miscellaneous activities, for there was a TV that stood in it's side, facing whoever had been there doing whatever they had wanted to do.

There was a bench press to her right, and a large punching back to her left, and after examining her surroundings, and deciding which one she wanted to do first, she made a decision and went straight over to the punching bag.

She remembered what one of her trainers said to her once, if she were angry, and wanted to train, then it'd be best to channel her anger into the punching bag. She agreed with them, because if she went anywhere else, like working with one of the machines for instance, she'd push herself too hard, and punish herself by _hurting _herself.

That's what she always did when things went wrong for her here, in the WWE. She didn't want the memory to resurface, but instantly she remembered when Teddy Long was the general manager of Smackdown, and all of those horrible things she had went through with him.

Eve scowled.

It was her fault – she knew, but no one knew the _cause _of her actions, no one knew what she had to go through with Zack Ryder, _and _what she went through with Long, and _then _there was outside of the ring.

She gave the huge punching sack a good push, testing it's weight. It moved slightly, and the diva warned herself not to go overboard when striking the heavy material.

She sighed to herself, and balled her fists, and like the currents of waves on a beach, she let her mind drift, and pull itself into those memories, the same memories that she longed to forget.

_Hoeski. _The word came as a whisper in her mind, but it was enough to bring Eve's fist back and connect it with the bag.

_Ka-thump, Smack! _

She remembered Zack Ryder's goofy ass, labeling her with that God-awful made up word, and everyone in and out of the ring calling her that. She remembered John Cena's words the week before that.

_Smack! Smack! Thump!_

She remembered the audience booing her when she came out in hopes of confronting him for what he heard as she talked to the Bella Twins – and then... she remembered herself crying in the middle of the ring, and then being carried out by WWE officials.

_Ka-thump, Smack! Smack!_

And then – Kelly Kelly, her '_supposed_' best friend, she remembered how she abandoned her upon hearing the kind of '_person_' she became that time. She claimed she 'didn't know who Eve was anymore', and ended there friendship without much of an explanation on Eve's end. Though Kelly did try to talk to her the week she explained herself to the WWE universe, but seeing as how she ended their friendship before she got the courage to try and talk to her, Eve paid her no mind.

A friend would've stuck by you no matter what, talking, would've been the first thing Eve would've done if Kelly were in her shoes. Now that Eve thought about it, she was always there for Kelly when she needed her, but -

Eve snarled like a caged animal, and she brought her foot back to violently kick the bag away from her. She stumbled and let her back hit against the wall behind her, luckily managing to avoid the swinging bag from smacking her in the face while doing so. A shooting pain flew up her foot, but _that _kind of pain - was nothing to her.

She was used to it - after all.

The diva scowled at herself. _So much for not going overboard. _

She's fine, as much as she would like to say that to herself - but she _needed _to vent all of that anger away, and it only made her realize just how much she preferred to be alone.

Before she could even think about getting up again, suddenly, the door had swung open, and Randy Orton stumbled through the training room, his eyes frantically looking all over the place for the source of the noise, until his eyes came to rest on her.

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><p>"Eve?" Randy said her name more like a question, rather than a demand as to where, or why he had heard the noise he heard when he walked by the divas training room in search of her.<p>

Eve said nothing. She glared at him, her glare asking what she failed to say. _What the hell are you doing here?_

Randy looked unfazed. "Are you alright?"

"Hmph." Eve looked away from him, turning her head, mumbling, "Why does that seem to be the first thing everyone so far has to ask me?" She wondered to herself. She said that as if it were a rhetorical question, but Randy, having heard her, answered it.

"Because you don't seem like yourself."

She turned back to him, and shrugged her shoulders. "So? Why is it any of your concern as to how I'm feeling? I was just _training_, that's all."

Randy thought for a moment. Honestly, he _didn't _know why he was so concerned about the diva. She seemed all the more capable of taking care of herself, and whatever she was going through. But this feeling - that image of her looking so lonely, that strange aura he felt when he saw her - he couldn't shake it off of him.

"Hmph. Right. If you want my thanks for earlier - _thank you _for getting that bastard off of my back." She brought her foot forward, and rubbed it in comfort. "I like to train _alone_. So - can you please just leave?"

He didn't move. He was too busy looking at her foot. "Are you hurt?"

"Maybe."

"Were you training with the punching bag?" He asked, noticing how the bag swung slightly due to the impact of Eve's kick.

"Maybe."

"Why did you kick it?"

"I don't know."

Randy sighed. "Is there anything else you can say that's not an evasive one to three word answer?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe."

He gave up. "Fine, if you want to be that way." He went over to a station in the training room where most of the divas go to ice any sort of injury one might sustain whilst training. He took a clear bag, gathered up some ice from the cooler, and tied it up. He then walked over to place the bag beside the diva.

"For your foot."

Without another word, he walked out. Eve stared at where he once stood for a long time, then brought her eyes to the bag of ice placed next to her. She let out a frustrated sigh, took off her boot, and iced her foot. The last thought on her mind while replaying the events that had just took place were:

_I don't need anyone. _

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><p><strong>There you have it. Randy and Eve's first confrontation. I didn't want much to happen here between them, as I'm saving that for later chapters, but with Eve's attitude here toward Randy, it's a slow start into those "future" confrontations.<br>**

**La-de-da. So there's chapter three for ya, I'm anxious for what you guys have to say. Oh, and I did make a banner for this story. The link to it is on my profile page if you wish to check it out. In the meantime, if you would review, I would appreciate it. **


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